Israel's state-owned energy company EAPC (Eurasian Pipeline Company) will build a fiber optic cable to create a continuous connection from Europe to the Gulf region and Asia.
The 254-kilometer (158-mile) cable will stretch from the Mediterranean port of Ashkelon to Eilat on the northern Red Sea, following the route of a pipeline operated by EAPC and connecting to a submarine cable landed in Israel.
The Ministry of Finance confirmed that any licensed telecommunications provider in Israel will be able to use the cable under a 25-year lease. EAPC CEO Itzik Levy said the cable will "position Israel as a land bridge for communications between the Gulf States and Asia and Europe.
The news is likely to be controversial; EAPC has been strongly criticized by environmental groups for its track record, with a major violation in 2014 resulting in the EAPC pipeline spilling more than 5 million liters of oil into a protected nature reserve. However, the Treasury Department argued that deploying the cable along the pipeline route would make it easier to monitor damage and detect spills.
